"Perfectly safe," her supervisor had said. "We've not had an escape since we opened!" he said.
Well, pardon my language, but that's a load of barbecued sasquatch, the girl thought. She turned around and saw the dented metal door at the far end of the corridor. The security button on this end would drop down several walls throughout the hall once the animal got in, sealing it inside the hallway. She just needed to wait, and have the door- the door to the outside- open and ready.
For a minute, everything was still. Then there was a roar, an earth-shattering scream from beyond the hallway. A crash as the door broke as though glass. The girl slammed her shaking hand down on the button. For a moment, as the animal stood inspecting its surroundings, nothing happened.
Then it looked up, and stared into the girl's eyes. She was paralyzed with fear. This great beast, loose in the Facility, was staring at her.
And then it started running.
The first of the artificial walls crashed down in front of the girl. She was shaking violently still.
Then it dawned on her the seriousness of the situation. She shook off any feelings of shock remaining and stepped out the Keeper's door.
And the wall broke, freeing the monster inside.
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The Hamilton Zoo of Myths and Lore had just closed for today. One of the dragons was contentedly nosing through the mass of coins, stones and jewelry that had been thrown to her by guests that day. The male griffin paced miserably, wondering what had become of the eggs the female had laid. Loud whooping noises came from the Small Creatures House, indicating that the Fire Salamanders had emerged for the night. A rattling sound was heard as Ole Granny, the eyeless basilisk, shuffled her scales over the dead leaves in her enclosure.
James the custodian, however, was doing his daily rounds. Picking up lost, forgotten souvenirs, sweeping up crushed popcorn bits, and stabbing through food packaging.
It was a park for the unreal. One would think people would take better care of it, but no. The Hamilton Zoo of Myths and Lore was treated as though a mere baseball stadium.
James strolled leisurely by the unicorn stables. A strict whinny told him that he had been spotted by Ursula, the "mascot" of HZML. He smiled. He was fond of the gentle creature.
What would a small visit to his favorite unicorn harm? James saw nothing to be ashamed of. He peered into the stables and saw Ursula at the far end of the stables.
That was odd. She was loose. James thought he should return her to her stall. Just as he took the first step towards him, the one-horned horse galloped past the custodian and looked back, beckoning him to follow.
He walked toward her again, and she began steadily cantering in the direction of the Shalwyn Farin's cage. The unicorn looked back again at James, and saw inside the dragons' cage a dog-sized dragon, looking pitifully at James. She was begging for food.
"Where's her keeper? She's normally here by now!" James looked around. Jessica, the dragonologist, was nowhere to be found. "JESSICA? JESSICA, ARE YOU THERE?"
The unicorn nudged James again. He turned around and saw behind him a flash of white, red and gold. Ursula stiffened, and her horn began to glow.
A hiss. A snarl. The thing, whatever it was, ran.
James shuddered. He might know what that thing was. He pulled his radio out of his belt and picked up his trash skewer.
"Supervisor? This is James, James to Supervisor, over!"
There was a crackle, and a fizz. Then the Supervisor's voice screeched over the radio's speaker.
"Yes, James? What's going on?"
"There's something wrong. I just saw something loose, and Jessica's not with the Shalwyn-Farin."
Silence.
"James, listen to me. I want you to go to the Pretending Demon's cage, right now." The supervisor screeched. "Then... you need to get out of here."
"What about Ursula?" James realized that he had neglected to note that the unicorn was loose.
"What about her?"
"She's, uh, loose."
The supervisor said nothing, but James swears to this day that he heard the Supervisor swear to himself.
Ursula walked with James all the way to the Pretending Demon's cage. Nothing could be seen through the one-way glass.
The unicorn whinnied again and nudged James to the Staff Door. He entered it, and found Jessica laying on the floor, hardly outside of the broken security door. She was dead.
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"Police reports state that the cause of death is unclear; but the victim is a well-known employee at the Hamilton Zoo of Myths and Lore. There are no signs of struggle, stabbing, shooting, or other methods of death aside from a small burn on her left thigh. She was taking care of a particularly dangerous species at HZML known as the Pretending Demon."
"That's right, John. As many know, Pretending Demons are not actually demons. Their names come from the colonial days, when the Puritans found that the Devil was tempting members of their society. The Pretending Demon was behind this, and it would pretend to lead its victims to their dreams, then breathe a little bit of fire on them."
"You know, I kind of wonder what's going through the minds of the forensic team. Can't they put two and two together? Pretending demon? Fire? Burn on left thigh?"
"True, true. They claim to be experts, but they can't put the pieces together and assume that the Pretending Demon got her? I mean, really. EVERYONE knows what happens to you when the Pretending Demon breathes fire on you- your blood literally boils, killing you almost instantly."
"Well, that's your news snippit for now. Here's PSY with their HOT new song, Gangnam Style, on 104.7 HOT.FM!"
Mercury Slaine reached out and slapped her alarm clock. In her head she reminded herself to change the radio station that came on to something more... intelligent. A rattling and a squeaking from downstairs summoned her to rising out of her bed.
The eighteen-year-old staggered down her stairs in zombie-like style and stared at her kitchen. Unlike the night before, it was NOT a complete war zone. Mercury owed that to her new kennel system. She had recently learned not to leave her Shalwyn-Farin dragons loose at night- at least, not until they were fully grown. "Swirl-Winged Pranksters," she called them on her blog.
Mercury filled the food and water bowls and opened the door to the enclosed porch before unleashing the small dragons. The pair looked at her with wide open eyes and anticipation.
The kennels were opened and the two dragons exploded out of their kennels with a loud squeak of joy. While one bolted outside for a potty stop, the other ran in circles around Mercury's ankles. Mercury reached down and patted it on the head.
"Orille, why don't you go outside and go potty too?" Mercury asked the small dragon. It squeaked some more and sat down on the floor, wagging its brown-bladed tail. The little female who had dashed outside came in, licked Mercury's foot, and sat down to eat her food.
Mercury sighed, remembering the chatter on the radio station. She wondered if it was true? If it was, the newspapers and television reporters were probably psychotic about it. Not that she cared, of course, they were using the poor woman's death to get them more views.
So Mercury, who did not own a television, pulled out her laptop and visited woodtv.com. Lo and behold, staring back at her, was a picture of a Pretending Demon. She screamed, dropped the laptop, and realized her folly as the laptop screen went black.
The girl picked the laptop up again and tried again, booting it up and going to the WOODTV8 website. She closed her eyes, reminded herself that it was only a picture, and clicked on the image. It took her to an article that merely stated "Mythical Zookeeper Found Dead".
It appeared that the forensic people had indeed figured out that it was the Demon's fire that had killed the poor girl. It also appeared that the Pretending Demon was loose.
The HZML supervisor said he was "ashamed" that his own staff "let" the monster escape for the price of her own life. Lies and everyone knew it.
Mercury closed the laptop and did the most logical thing people do when there's a murderous monster on the loose. She went upstairs, took a shower, got dressed, harnessed the Shalwyn-Farin, and took them on a walk.
And for today's music choice...
I like it! :3
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